‘Broken phone’ fixed, Lavrov and Kerry to meet next week

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Konstantin Dolgov confirmed on Thursday that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov would meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Berlin, Germany on Feb. 26.

The meeting comes after it was reported by the Western media
that Kerry failed to reach Lavrov via telephone on two separate
occasions last week, causing analysts to speculate on the condition
of the Russia-US relationship.

However, the Russian Foreign Ministry rejected the claim that two
attempts were made to reach Lavrov, saying that Kerry had made just
one attempt, but, according to Foreign Minister spokesperson
Alexander Lukashenko, “the conversation could not be held”
because Lavrov was touring African countries at the time.

The outspoken leader of the Russian LibDem Party (LPDR), Vladimir
Zhirinovsky joked about Kerry’s failure to reach Lavrov, suggesting
that the US Secretary of State was desperately attempting to reach
the Russian diplomat to warn of a new US weapon test that had gone
awry and was heading for Russian territory.

Zhirinovsky was referring to last week’s spectacular meteorite
explosion that lit up the skies over the Russian town of
Chelyabinsk.

It will be Kerry’s first official trip abroad after taking over
from Hillary Clinton as the new US Secretary of State, and there
will be much to discuss between the two veteran statesmen.

Dolgov, speaking at a meeting of the State Duma committee on the
family announced that Lavrov told informed him that the question of
the rights of Russian children adopted by American families would
be one of the main talking points.

The comment came just hours after it was reported that another
adoptive Russian child died in the United States."I spoke with Sergey Lavrov just before coming here, and he
asked me to stress that this issue, primarily the death of Maxim
Kuzmin, will be among the key issues on the agenda of his
negotiations with Kerry scheduled for next week," Dolgov
said.

The Human Rights Commissioner of the Foreign Ministry said Russia
was not informed promptly enough about Kuzmin's death.

Meanwhile, US officials have declared their willingness to maintain
cooperation with Russia, particularly the Russian embassy in
Washington, to determine the details of the tragedy, he said.

"There have been certain assurances from the U.S. that they are
keeping this situation under special control and will be doing all
they can at the State Department to provide us with all the
necessary information and do whatever they can so that this case be
investigated properly," Dolgov said.

Kuzmin was adopted by a US family from the same orphanage as Dmitry
Yakovlev, the child who died from heatstroke in 2008 after being
left unattended inside of a car by his American parents. Yakovlev's
name has been given to a Russian law that prohibits the adoption of
Russian children by US citizens, which took effect at the end of
2012.

Meanwhile, other pressing international issues will certainly be
discussed by Lavrov and Kerry, including the two-year conflict in
Syria, where a militant opposition is trying to force out President
Assad.

Moscow, adhering to the conditions laid out in the Geneva
Communiqué, want both sides to honor a ceasefire and enter
negotiations. Washington, however, has taken a decidedly pro-rebel
position and has repeatedly issued calls for Assad to step
down.

At the same time, the question over how to deal with North Korea,
which conducted an underground test of a nuclear device on February
12, will also rank high on the agenda.